As I Descended Book Recommendation

Hello there! Today I have for you a recommendation of a book that recently came out, As I Descended by Robin Talley. This book is, in my opinion, a very cleverly written, fast-paced and spooky read that captured me very early on. If you're not already convinced, take a look at the summary -

"Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them.

Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.

Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word.

But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.

Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.

But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line."

If you didn't quite get it through the summary, this is a modern adaptation and twist on the Shakespeare play Macbeth. What you also mightn't know about me is that I quite like Shakespeare, and Macbeth is my very favourite play of his. So when I heard there was going to be a retelling of the play in a haunted, elitist boarding school, I was exactly as excited as you'd expect me to be (very, very excited. Shakespeare + privileged children with no parental figures to answer to and money to blow? YES PLEASE!). And fortunately, this book definitely lived up to my expectations.

The story, obviously, revolves around Maria and Lily (also just a sidenote - the Lady Macbeth character in this book is named Lily. Like me. Could I have asked for anything better?), two girls willing to do anything to secure their future together. And they do go to serious, serious lengths to do so!

The characters' descent and spiral into insanity and immorality has always been one of the most moving aspects of Macbeth for me, and it was similar in As I Descended. The book starts quite lighthearted, as the author establishes the characters and school, but it is clear that the tone begins to change as the plot thickens. The spooky, creepy feel increases exponentially throughout the book; it only gets spookier with time. The writing style Talley adopts in the book fits the tone and characters perfectly. It is written in third person from multiple points of view, and this style of narration manages to simultaneously provide great insight into the characters and their differences, whilst also creating an eerie distance from them, which only adds to the creepy feel of the book. The writing style was one of the book's greatest assets (alongside the awesome, awesome premise).

I also felt that the characterisation was done incredibly effectively throughout the book. I felt very attached to all the characters (which is a little bit depressing, if you know the plotline and consequently the fates of the characters in Macbeth...), and so it made the emotional impact and my own investment in the story very high.

The whole book was written with very clever, subtle references to Macbeth that anyone who has read the play will appreciate. From the chapter titles to the section names, the names of characters and names of different places and events, there are little hints towards the original play that never failed to make me smile when I saw them. Especially the title of the epilogue... that bit definitely got me. These references definitely added to my overall enjoyment of the book.

I would most definitely recommend this book to fans of psychological thrillers, mysteries, and obviously, Macbeth. I cannot think of any books similar to it, except maybe Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas. If you loved Dangerous Girls, I think you may also love As I Descended.

As always, let me know what you thought about As I Descended if you have read it, or if you plan to read it in the comments below or via any of my social media platforms in the banner :) If you have a similar recommendation or questions about the book, leave me a comment! And if you want to contact me for business, ARCs, a book recommendation, my own book, or just to say hi, shoot me an email at mywordsarearrows@gmail.com.

Have a lovely week and I will see you here again soon!

Lily xo

The Love That Split the World Review

Hello everyone! Today I will be reviewing a book called The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry. I really loved this book! It was cute, very well written, beautifully diverse, and filled with magic, hints of the supernatural, and all-round mind boggling plot twists.

If you’re not already intrigued, here’s the goodreads summary:

Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves. 

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start... until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

I don’t actually know how to describe the genre of this book… paranormal romance? Magical realism? Urban fantasy? Contemporary? Truthfully, it’s all four and more. It’s one of those books that dabbles with lots of different ideas, but doesn’t get confusing or over the top. The characters are brilliant, the story is brilliant, the magic and mythology is brilliant, and I would highly recommend. 

Despite a few complaints I have about some insta-love and info-dumping, it was still well worth reading and it will be a book I recommend heavily from now on.

***SPOILERS***

I had expectations for this book. I know, it’s a dangerous game playing with expectations, but how could I not? The cover was beautiful, the premise was enthralling, and I have a signed copy with a letter from the author that was beautifully written. I didn’t even read any reviews! I went in with very few pre-conceived ideas, just a feeling that this book was going to be amazing. It sounded a little psych thriller, a little paranormal romance, a little urban fantasy. So I did have high hopes.

And amazingly enough, this book mostly reached or exceeded my expectations! I read it quite quickly, because I just wanted more.

However, there were some things that made this book a little hard to read, and which threw me out of the story. First of all, the info-dumping. This was the first thing that hit me in this book – the sheer amount of text that is dedicated to speech or explanation. Sometimes, characters will spend a whole page explaining something, like Alice with her theories, or several pages telling a story uninterrupted. Long reams of text like that tend to throw me out of the story, and make it hard to stay engaged. 

Grandmother’s stories, although fascinating and integral to the story, seemed to drag, which was a little bit disappointing. Sometimes it felt like the characters were giving speeches or Shakespearean soliloquies, their passages of uninterrupted text went so long.

Secondly, the insta-love. I find it really hard to care about a couple who’ve been insta-love’d. And in this book, the insta-love was blatant. Natalie and Beau meet once and then BAM they’re in love. And ordinarily, that would make the love between the characters feel fake and ridiculous, but the author still managed to make me love the characters and their relationship! I’m so glad I still felt that they were real, but the insta-love was slightly disappointing.

On a side note, despite the relationship between Natalie and Beau feeling real, sometimes it got very flowery and over-the-top. Despite this, the amazing story and beautiful writing was so engaging that I was able to happily read through the overly-romantic passages and then throw myself back into the actual story.

Now onto the positive stuff. This book is exquisitely written. The author knows her audience isn't dumb, and doesn't treat them like that. She writes profoundly, with meaningful metaphors and delicately constructed sentences all within the context of a small-town teen contemporary. It's really quite incredible how the author has managed to make the book so easy to read and enjoyable, and still maintains a level of sophistication and beauty in her writing. I thought that this was one of the highest points about the book.

Natalie, our protagonist, is also quite the smart cookie. She is self-aware, conscious of her surroundings, and level-headed. This is such a step up from typical YA protags who jump headfirst into things, act impulsively and don't seem to have any awareness for themselves or the world around them. She knows what she wants, has clear goals and objectives, and works in a sensible, intelligent way to achieve them.

Another great thing about this book is how diverse it is. It really opened my eyes to different cultures, especially Native American culture. I thoroughly enjoyed that the characters in this book are not perfect, cardboard cut-out, boring characters. They're all very well developed and unique, even the minor characters.

The emotions and feelings Natalie was experiencing were very easy to feel as the audience. It wasn't hard to see her as a real person with real struggles, even if they were somewhat supernatural. Her thoughts and internal monologues were believable and relateable, and as a reader, I was able to sympathize with her and her struggles.

One element I especially loved in this book was the relationship between Natalie and Matt. It was so interesting and heartbreaking to see that this relationship, although it was enduring and normal and comfortable, was going nowhere and was actively holding them both back. But their love for one another and hesitancy to let one another go was so sad to read, because they weren't "in love" but they definitely loved one another. I feel like that was a very real element to add to the story.

The story was also incredibly enthralling. I had no idea who Grandmother was, and I would never have picked that particular plot twist. The whole time travel/world jumping plotline was mind-bending and always kept me guessing, which I love in books. I never really knew what exactly was going on. I thought the whole premise of Natalie and Beau being from alternate Unions was very clever, and made for a very interesting central plot.

The Love That Split the World is amazing. It's an undefinable, deeply emotional, moving work which captured my imagination wholeheartedly. I am extremely eager to see what Emily Henry comes up with next, and I will for sure be following her work from here on out.

If you'd like to share your thoughts of this book down below, please do! Additionally, if you'd like to let me know your thoughts, give me a recommendation, or just say hi, you can contact me via any of my social media accounts, or my email, mywordsarearrows@gmail.com.

I hope you have a wonderful week and I'll see you again soon with another post!

Lily xo

Best of 2015

Hello dearest readers of my blog! Since it is the ending of a year and beginning of a new one, I kind of have a tradition on My Words Are Arrows to discuss the very best books I read over the course of the year. And so sure enough, I am here to do just that!

2015 was an odd reading year for me, because not only did I not read more than 72-ish books, I also found that I was in huge reading slumps for long periods of time that seriously detracted from my enjoyment of whatever I was reading. Despite this, I did manage to find some amazing books that I absolutely loved, and you're going to hear about them right here! I would ordinarily have star ratings after each little piece about the book, but literally all these books were easy five stars... Which is not exactly a bad thing! I would recommend all of these books.

And without further ado! Here are my best of 2015.

I'll Give You The Sun, by Jandy Nelson

It probably wouldn't be wrong to call this my favourite book of the year (possibly tying with the next book I will discuss). I've talked about this book multiple times on here, and if you were reading my blog over the course of this year, you've probably established my undying love for it. This book is a contemporary unlike any other you've ever read. It's beautiful, poetic, profound and yet still incredibly down-to-earth and relatable. This book is hard to explain, but it follows the story of these twins, Noah and Jude, over the course of a three year time gap. Noah narrates chapters where they are thirteen, and Jude narrates chapters where they are sixteen. Something has happened between this two snapshots of their lives, but you don't quite know what. There's a bit of mystery weaved into this wonderfully emotional, highly impacting novel. It's one of my favourites of all time. If you'd like to know more about I'll Give You The Sun, you can check out its goodreads page here.

Published: September, 2014

Dangerous Girls, by Abigail Haas

If I'll Give You The Sun doesn't come first as my favourite book of the year, this definitely will. Dangerous Girls was an incredibly shocking, heart-wrenching, and extremely gripping read that rendered me speechless for hours after finishing it. The pages literally just flew away, and the story was so in depth and real. This book is a mystery/psych thriller, following a group of teens who spend their spring break partying in Aruba. However, everything goes downhill when Anna's, our main character, best friend is brutally murdered. Now, whilst having to deal with the pain of losing her best friend, Anna and her boyfriend are also under suspicion by the police for Elise's murder. Anna must now fight for her innocence in a foreign country, and await the judge's verdict. I absolutely loved this book. It's so cleverly written and beautifully put together. It's a thoroughly enjoyable, delightfully messed up novel. You can check it out further here.

Published: July, 2013

The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black

This book is one of the strangest, most unique reads I've had the pleasure of discovering this year. The Darkest Part of the Forest was the first Holly Black book I've read since reading The Spiderwick Chronicles as a kid, and it was absolutely incredible. This book is a melting pot of different genres and conventions and ideas that all work so well together, it's astounding. It's a bit of a psych thriller, a bit of a mystery, a bit of an urban fantasy, a bit of a high fantasy, a bit fairytale and a bit contemporary. It's such a strange, wonderful book that had me in awe. It follows the story of two siblings, Hazel and Ben, who live in a town called Fairfold, where humans and faeries live side by side. But Hazel knows that there is a darker truth to the faeries' existence in Fairfold. And she knows, somewhere in her, how to stop them. And then, in the middle of the forest, there is a glass coffin with a fae prince locked inside with whom the siblings have fallen in love. They imagine adventures and explorations with the prince. But he's never woken up... Until now. I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy something a little odd in their books. You can check it out on goodreads here.

Published: January, 2015

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sanez

This book isn't as fast-paced and gripping as Dangerous Girls, or as mystical as The Darkest Part of the Forest. It's pensive and poetic and the prose is gorgeous. This book is a contemporary about Ari, an angry teen with a brother in prison, and Dante, a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be. This book is lyrical and special and a really nice story of friendship, love, family and discovering yourself. I would highly, highly recommend this book. It'll make you laugh and cry and feel everything with Ari and Dante. You can look it up on goodreads here.
Published: February, 2012

A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab
There are very few authors who I would trust enough to buy their books without doing any prior research into the book, but V.E. Schwab is one of them. This book was my very first V.E. Schwab book, although her other book, Vicious, was actually released before A Darker Shade of Magic. I absolutely adored both of these books, and especially A Darker Shade of Magic. This book is a fantasy. It has inter-dimensional travel, magic, ancient mystical mythology and incredibly lovable and intricately developed characters. This book is incredibly crafted and utterly enthralling. The prose, the world building — everything about it is beautiful. I absolutely loved this book. I would highly, highly recommend it. You can see its goodreads page here.
Published: February, 2015

Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell
This book isn't like the other books in this list. For those familiar with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, this title will resonate, as it is, of course, the name of the fanfic Cath is writing. This book is about Simon Snow, the character from the  Fangirl book. It's quite confusing, I know! In Fangirl, there is said to be seven Simon Snow books, and Carry On is a hypothetical eighth book written from Rainbow's interpretation of the characters and story. Snow Snow is a Harry Potter-esque character, and the book is set at Watford School of Magicks. It's quirky, hilarious, emotional and utterly soul-devouring. The book sucks you into its world and doesn't let you go (for days and weeks after finishing it, as well). The characters are beautiful, and it's so sweet and funny picking up on the Harry Potter undertones (clearly Baz is a Draco sort of character, Penelope modeled off Hermione). I'm not generally a huge Rainbow Rowell fan, but this book was so heartwarming and perfect. It's my favourite Rainbow book so far, and easily made the list of my favourite books of this year. You can investigate further right here.
Published: October, 2015

So these have been my favourite books of the year! 2015 had some really amazing books, and I have enjoyed exploring more into new genres and styles. I wish you all the best for the start of 2016, and hope you have a wonderful week! As per usual, if you'd like to let me know what your favourite 2015 books are, you can leave a comment below or contact me via any of my socials. If you'd like to contact me for business, book recs, or just to say hi, my email (mywordsarearrows@gmail.com) is always open!

Have a wonderful week and I'll see you soon :)

Lily xo

Bookmas Day 12 — Printable Goodies and Merry Christmas

♫On the twelfth day of Bookmas, the book blogger gave to me, a printable gift set, a festive photo shoot, a Christmas short story, a year overview, a review for the reading, a bit of Hide & Seek, some festive reads, a post about films, reading recipes, comic book thoughts, a list of writing tips and a book rec for a mystery♫

MERRY CHRISTMAS! It is most definitely Christmas Day where I live, here in Australia, and so I am celebrating with my family and probably eating way too much pudding.

Anyways, I thought that it would be fitting for me to give you guys a gift, considering it is the holiday season and this year has been amazing, and I'd like to thank you all. So I have concocted a few little printable bookmarks that you can download from this link here. On the PDF there's instructions and such, so I really hope you enjoy these and that they serve you well!

The bookmarks are not Christmas themed, so that not only can you use them all year round, but if you don't celebrate Christmas, you can still use them!

Bookmas has officially ended for 2015... I hope you have enjoyed! If you've been busy and haven't been keeping up (I know I struggled!) in this post I will have the links to every single Bookmas post from this year shortly after Christmas. Otherwise, you can just scroll through my recent posts.

I hope you all have a spectacular Christmas, New Years and whole holiday season. Thank you so much for making this year incredible, and I'm looking forward to another year of amazing books and drowning in puddles of feels.

Now, go eat some pudding.

Lily xo

Bookmas Day 11 — My True Love Gave To Me Photoshoot

♫On the eleventh day of Bookmas, the book blogger gave to me, a festive photo shoot, a Christmas short story, a year overview, a review for the reading, a bit of Hide & Seek, some festive reads, a post about films, reading recipes, comic book thoughts, a list of writing tips and a book rec for a mystery♫

This post has been anticipated (by myself, at least) since December 12th last year. Yes, it is time for the long awaited My True Love Gave To Me photoshoot. For those who are unaware, this book is my favourite Christmas novel so far, and last year, I ordered it from Dymocks online (first mistake) so that it would come in time for me to do a cute photo shoot for Christmas. I must also say that Dymocks guaranteed me it would come before Christmas. Yeah. January 11 is definitely before Christmas. NEXT Christmas, that is. Sorry, as you can tell I'm still pretty bitter about it.

My Christmas post from last year reviews each story individually, and also addresses my undying frustration with the delivery of the book. Anyways, the reason I wanted to do a photo shoot so badly was because this book is so incredibly gorgeous. It's the prettiest book I own. And so without further ado, I will show you just why it was so important to make this post.

Isn't it just so so so pretty *love heart eyes*! This book is a blessing to Christmas everywhere. I hope you, too, have been blessed with these images of My True Love Gave To Me and that you have a wonderful Christmas Eve <3

You can let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via any of my socials. If you'd like to contact me for business, book recs, or just to chat, my email (mywordsarearrows@gmail.com) is always accepting!

Have a wonderful night, and I'll see you tomorrow for the final day of Bookmas!

Lily xo

Bookmas Day 10 — A Christmas Short Story

♫On the tenth day of Bookmas, the book blogger gave to me, a Christmas short story, a year overview, a review for the reading, a bit of Hide & Seek, some festive reads, a post about films, reading recipes, comic book thoughts, a list of writing tips and a book rec for a mystery♫

It is so close to Christmas now, I can really feel it! I hope you are all getting into the Christmas spirit and eating lots of delicious food, singing carols and getting excited for presents! Today I have a little present for you guys. This is actually the first time I've ever done this, so I'm a little nervous!

What I am giving you today is a fully completed Christmas-themed short story written by me. Yep, and entire 3,500 word short story filled with cutesy Christmas feels, unlucky characters and hilarity. I have been working on this since I started planning Bookmas, and I'm so so so excited to share it with you. The story is about possibly one of the worst scenarios you can get yourself into at Christmas: getting locked in a shopping centre bathroom.

Without further ado, here is the story! I really hope you all enjoy it :)

Perhaps if I hadn’t decided that last minute Christmas shopping was a fantastic idea, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Perhaps if I hadn’t spent weeks putting it off and off. Perhaps if I hadn’t been playing Angry Birds on my phone for hours whilst I waited in the catastrophic pre-Christmas lines. Or perhaps if all my professors had laid off the homework in the last week before Christmas break, too. If I’d had more time.

But there’s really no use complaining now. Especially considering I’m trapped in a shopping centre toilet stall on Christmas Eve, when I should be at home with my family. I wonder where they think I am. Do they think I’d blow off family dinner? I hope not.

There’s going to be no nice way to recount this story. It’s the type of story they’ll either die laughing over or die crying over. When you get yourself into a situation like this, there’s really no living it down.

And it began earlier yesterday, when I realized it was almost Christmas Eve, and I’d bought neither presents nor the groceries required to make the dish I’d said I would for family dinner. It’s not completely out of character for me to be this unorganized, let me tell you. Let anyone tell you. But, it being my first Christmas after having moved out of home and into a dingy little studio apartment close to my university, I figured my family would cut me some slack.

The plan was to hit the shops ASAP, and be home with time to spare to whip up a delicious potato salad. I was going to conquer Christmas shopping this year. Today was going to be combat shopping — not for the faint of heart.

But this, of course, never came about. After a long sleep in and a few hours of trying (and failing… multiple times) to make French toast as a special Christmas Eve breakfast, it was suddenly the afternoon. What can I say, I never was very good at time management. And then, once I finally realized the time and raced out of my apartment, my Great Aunt Hilda, a notorious talker with a penchant for tall tales, decided it was time for our yearly Christmas phone call.

And lo and behold, it wasn’t until late afternoon before I made it even into the shopping centre. Which I suppose began the start of the calamitous afternoon I’d had.

Now, as I sit in a toilet stall, bags of gifts around me, it pains me to think of where I should be. And how my own stupidity got me here.

I’d rushed into the bathroom just as the centre was closing (you’d think most shopping centres would be open late on Christmas Eve. Nope, not ours. Typical). The security guards had just done their sweep of the bathrooms, and one who took pity on me let me in and said, “Be quick.”

But the security guards never came back. Well, they never heard my cries for help, at least. Because the stall I entered, bundling in with all my various shopping bags, just so happened to be the stall that jammed. Jammed beyond the point of my brute force.

I remember the feeling of the panic setting in, as I threw my body weight against the door and it still wouldn’t budge. I screamed and screamed before I realized — my phone. Of course. I called my mum first, because I thought I better explain why I wasn’t at family dinner. No answer. Typical. I’m stranded in a closed shopping centre toilet, and my mother still cannot answer her phone.

I go to call the emergency services, wondering if they even work on Christmas Eve (no, but they’d have to, right? Danger doesn’t take a break for Christmas. I think?), but my phone blanks. Battery. I’ve never been so unfortunate on one single day in my life. Perhaps I get some good karma for this. Perhaps this is bad karma for everything I’ve done this year (maybe once I get out of here, I’ll apologise to my professor for that one time I fell asleep in his lecture…).

My throat hurts from screaming. I try to listen for noises outside the toilet. Maybe there’s a security guard who’s doing circles around the centre, looking for burglars or stray shoppers or Santa Claus. Maybe I’ll get lucky.

I’ve eaten through my sister’s chocolate Christmas house I was planning to give her tonight. Not now, I think, as I nibble one of the last bits. It doesn’t nearly fill me up. The thought of Christmas ham and potatoes and green beans makes me feel lightheaded. Why, oh why, do I have to be stuck here and not at Christmas dinner?

Then, I hear a shuffling outside the door. My heart starts racing. “Hello!” I yell. “Hey! Please help! I’m stuck in here!”

A squeaking sound. Footsteps. I keep yelling out.

“Who’s in there?” someone asks. It’s at this point where I wonder whether this was the best decision. This person could be a burglar. Or worse, a murderer. Or better, Santa Claus. That would almost make this worth it, just for the story. But I’m more concerned about the murderer possibility.

“Um… Hi. My name’s Noël. I’m stuck in this stall,” I say carefully. “Who are you?”

I hear a chuckle from outside. “What an icebreaker we’ve got here,” the voice says. I can gauge that the person is most likely male. And youngish (hopefully). What he’s doing in a closed shopping centre, I have no idea, but I’m pretty thankful. As long as the aforementioned murderer thing doesn’t become a reality.

“My name’s Oliver,” the voice says. I hear footsteps over to in front of my stall, and I can see his scuffed Oxfords under the door.

“As lovely as it is to be acquainted with your voice and shoes, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping me escape from this stall,” I ask.

Oliver laughs. “That should be fine. But you owe me the story behind how you got here once we free you,” he replies.

I roll my eyes. “Sure. Just pull on the door. I’m going to push against it. On three… two… one!” I push against the door with all my might, and I can feel it give a little.

“Hey, Noël?” Oliver says through the door. “Why didn’t you use your mobile phone to call for help? Surely you have one.”

I push hard against the door. “It died, unbelievably enough. Fun fact about me: I am the unluckiest person alive.”

“It seems so. This door really is stuck,” Oliver mutters, breathing heavily. “How does a door even get this jammed?”

“Honestly?” I huff, getting ready to push again. “I have no idea. Could only happen to me. Are you ready to go again? Three… two… one!”

After a few more minutes of intensive door unjamming, the door flies open, sending me tumbling out the front of the stall and into Oliver.

“We did it!” I exclaim, stepping away from him and doing a little victory dance. “I’m freed!”

Oliver chuckles. I retrieve my shopping bags. “How long were you in there?” he asks, looking into the stall that was previously my almost-death chamber.

“A few hours. What time is it?” I reply, washing my hands vigorously. I had previously taken for granted just how nice freedom is.

Oliver gapes. Only now do I actually take in his appearance. He’s tallish, with a mess of dark brown hair that looks like it needs a haircut, and he looks no more than a little older than me. His eyes are wide and brown, full of mischief. But I feel like I knew that from his voice. He wears nice clothes, clothes that look like they might have been expensive, but there’s something off about him that I just can’t put my finger on.

“It’s almost midnight! How did you survive in there for that long?” he asks incredulously.

I smile and hold up my shopping bags. “Thankfully I had some presents to eat.”

He grins. “You’re like the Bear Grylls of shopping. Let’s get out of here. I think we’ve both spent too much time in the ladies’ restroom for one day,” he says, grabbing some of the shopping bags from me and holding the bathroom door open.

Freedom is beautiful, I think, as I skip around the centre, twirling and giggling. The shopping centre looks so empty and dark. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

And then I realise — I’m stranded in a closed shopping centre on Christmas Eve with a strange boy I’ve only just met. Just like most things in my life, there is nothing normal about this situation. I wonder what my family are doing right now. They’d have finished dinner, and the kids would be asleep on the couches. Wrapping paper would be strewn all over the floor, and the adults would pass around eggnog and laugh at old stories.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Oliver asks, dropping my shopping bags at the base of the nearby fountain. If it were opening hours, the fountain would be bubbling, but it’s not. It’s asleep, and we should be, too.

“Nothing. I need to — I need to go,” I say, grabbing my bags and heading for the entrance. “Thank you for your help!” I call over my shoulder.

Oliver sits lazily on the edge of the fountain. “I don’t think you’ll be very successful in leaving the centre right now,” he yells after me.

The murderer thing pops back into my head. I try to flick it away. I turn back to him, but I don’t’ walk towards him. “Why?”

“The shopping centre’s closed, Noël,” he says. “The doors all lock.”

I let out a sigh, and tears start to well in my eyes. “So I’m stuck in here on Christmas Eve,” I say quietly. My words bounce around the empty centre.

I slowly walk back over to the fountain, and I sit next to Oliver. “There are worse nights to be stuck here,” he replies. “At least during Christmas there’s nice little decorations and stuff.” I wonder why he’s been stuck in a shopping centre before. I wonder why he’s stuck in one now.

“Why are you here, Oliver? Where are you supposed to be?” I say, dipping my hand into the fountain. I pull out a coin from the floor and flip it in my hands.

“What do you mean, where am I supposed to be?” Oliver says. “I’m here right now. That’s clearly where I’m supposed to be.”

“Well, I’m meant to be with my family. Having Christmas dinner. Surely you’re meant to be somewhere. And how did you get stuck in here in the first place?” I ask.

Olive fiddles with a loose thread on his shirt. “Let’s play a game,” he says. I stare at him. “I get to ask you a question, and if you answer it, you get to ask me one. If you forfeit, I keep asking questions until you answer one. And then we swap.”

I nod slowly. “Okay then.”

“I’ll start easy. How old are you?” he asks.

“Eighteen. And you?”

He smiles. “Nineteen. My turn again. Why were you shopping right before your family dinner?”

I scoff. “Because I’m not very good with time management. Are you a murderer?”

This time, he actually laughs. Laughs at me. I would feel embarrassed, but can he really blame me for asking? Then again, if he were a murderer, would he actually tell me? Now I’m regretting asking.

“Yes, Noël. I am. However, it’s Christmas so I’m taking a break from my normal murder schedule. Evil’s gotta celebrate the birth of Christ too, you know,” he says, amused. “Why do you think I might be a murderer?”

I shrug. “Because you’re in a closed shopping centre helping young girls escape from jammed bathroom stalls. Now, why are you in a closed shopping centre?” I ask. I’m still not convinced that he’s not a murderer. I am not an expert in teenage boys, but I would imagine that most of them would be required to, if not wanting to, spend Christmas with their families.

“Ahhh, now there’s a question I’d like to forfeit. But considering you think I’m a murderer I should probably fill in that blank for you,” he says, pausing. I wonder what would make him end up here, of all places. “Well, Christmas in my family isn’t your normal, happy-family, let’s-sit-around-the-hearth-and-laugh-at-good-old-times Christmas. Lots of yelling. Throwing things. And you could say that my parents aren’t especially fond of me.”

I suddenly feel incredibly sympathetic for this boy, who is hiding in a shopping centre on Christmas to avoid his family. It’s kind of devastating. “I’m sorry, Oliver,” I say, but it doesn’t come close to expressing how I feel. I now understand why his outfit looked a little off. He’s clearly been wearing it for a few days.

He shakes his head. “Don’t be. I’ve come here to hide out a lot over the years. It’s not that hard to sneak into here. And it’s quite peaceful. I’m surprised more runaways don’t crash here.”

There’s a pause. It’s funny that we’ve known each other for only half an hour, but we’re both stuck here, on one of the biggest holidays of the year, alone, and so we’ve forged an odd bond. Also, there’s the fact he saved me from death in a toilet stall. Always a good trust building exercise.

“Okay, my turn. What would you be doing right now, if you hadn’t been locked in a toilet stall?” he asks.

I think for a minute. “Well, it’s almost midnight, so most of my extended family would be leaving. My aunties and cousins and such. My parents and grandparents and I would probably stay up watching Home Alone or something, and my siblings would go to bed. I’d make tea and eggnog and we’d stay up and laugh and set up presents for the next day,” I say. The whole thing makes my chest ache. “This is the first Christmas I will have missed.”

“Don’t you think your parents would have called the police or gone looking for you or something?” Oliver asks.

I smile. “Not your turn, Oliver. But yeah, I think they might’ve. They wouldn’t think to check here,” I sigh. “Anyways. My turn. Do you know anywhere I can get food in here?”

In response, Oliver grins cheekily and stands up. He holds out his hand. “I’m so glad you asked that,” he says. “Come with me, Noël.”

I slowly raise my hand to his, and he leads me through the empty, echoing corridors. Christmas lights glitter from where they hang on the ceiling. It’s a bit spooky, but it’s also strangely beautiful.

“Where are you taking me? I seriously hope you aren’t going to murder me,” I say.

“Nope, no murder tonight. Just dinner,” he replies. Then, we stop abruptly. “Welcome to my personal restaurant.”

He gestures to a wall full of vending machines. I’ve never been down this end of the shopping centre before, with all the children’s play areas and fitness clubs. Seems strange to put the vending machines here, but I’ll take any food at the moment.

“What do you normally have for Christmas dinner, Noël?” he says. I like the way he says my name. Maybe it’s Christmas looming, but it seems more magical. Noël. Like it is its own little carol.

I smile. “Ham, and turkey. Roast beef. The best potatoes in the world,” I reply.

He pulls out loose coins from his pocket. “Potatoes, that I can do,” he says, sliding a coin into one of the machines and punching the numbers in. Out comes a few packs of potato chips. “And perhaps some dessert?”

He turns to the next machine and retrieves some chocolate bars. “I’d say we’ve got a Christmas Eve dinner fit for royalty.” He grins, bundling up the food in his long arms. I keep thinking he’s going to drop something, but he doesn’t.

“And I know exactly where to eat it.”

Oliver leads me across the entire centre and up several flights of stairs, but it’s worth it when we arrive. We’re on the roof, a little balcony lookout that belongs to the rooftop café (turns out cafés aren’t that hard to break into when closed. Oliver even nicks a few muffins from the windows). And the view of the city is incredible. Not only are the glowing lights an art form in their own right, but accompanied by the rainbow assortment of Christmas lights glittering all over, it’s positively enchanting. It takes my breath away.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Oliver says, passing me some chips. “I come up here sometimes, when I want to be alone. But it’s quite incredible during Christmastime.”

“Alone?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I’m not normally with anyone. You’re the first — the first person I’ve ever really hung out with here, after hours.”

I smile. I can see him watching me out of the corner of my eye, but I can’t move my gaze from the lights. “Then I suppose it isn’t all bad that I’m stuck here, then.”

I finally look back to him, and he’s smiling, too. His face is lit softly by all the shining lights. We’re silent for a while as we eat and watch the silent city. It’s true, strangely enough, what they say about the night before Christmas. It’s quieter than I’ve ever seen it. Very few cars, no people wandering the streets. It’s incredibly peaceful.

“It’s after midnight, Noël,” he whispers. We’re really quite close now, and I move closer to hear him well. “Merry Christmas.”

I lean my head against his shoulder. “Merry Christmas, Oliver.”

And with the quietness of the world, and Oliver as my pillow, I fall asleep.

***

“Noël! Noël! Wake up!” I hear. As I slowly open my eyes, I can see Oliver gently shoving me awake.

I groan. “What? What is it?” I murmur.

Oliver pulls me up. Discarded chip bags fly around the balcony with the wind. “I just thought of something! We’re going to get you out of here. Your Christmas is not yet ruined!”

I rub my eyes as Oliver leads me off the balcony and back through the centre. “Oliver! What is it? How are we getting out?”

He grins. “The payphone! I only just thought about it. If they don’t bother switching off the vending machines, perhaps they don’t bother switching the payphone off, either!”

I’m suddenly very awake. “You’re a genius! I’m going to get home for Christmas!”

Oliver laughs. “Yes, you are!”

We practically skip the rest of the way there, back past the fountain and my discarded shopping bags, and past the bathroom I was stuck in hours earlier.

Oliver jams some of his leftover coins into the phone and I punch in my parent’s home number. It rings three times before my mum answers. “Hello?” I hear her ask. She sounds tired.

“Mum! It’s me,” I say. “It’s Noël.”

I can hear her start to cry through the phone. “Noël, we thought you’d gone missing. Where are you? Are you okay?”

I smile, tears starting to trail down my cheeks. “I’m fine. You’re going to laugh so hard when I tell you where I’ve been. But for now, I’m stuck in the shopping centre. It’s completely locked up and I’m here with —” I stop, noticing Oliver’s wide-eyed expression and vigorous head-shaking. “Never mind. Can you call someone to help me?”

My mother exhales with relief. “Of course. I’ll get right on —” the phone cuts out. Once again, typical.

“It’s over,” I sigh, smiling. I notice Oliver watching me, with an odd expression. “What are you going to do?”

He shrugs. “Probably stay here. The centre’s closed tomorrow as well, so I’ll have free reign all day.”

I frown. “I can’t let you stay here during Christmas alone. Or any time of the year, really,” I say.

He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about me, I’ve got my vending machines and turned-off fountains to keep me company,” he says with a half-hearted grin. “You’ve got to go home with your family.”

My face falls. I grab his hand. “Come home with us. There’ll be left over dinner and you can stay in the spare room,” I say forcefully.

He gives me a pained expression. “I really can’t do that, Noël. I’m not a Christmas-crasher,” he says softly.

“I’m inviting you. Please. You have to meet my family,” I gush. I know that I positively cannot leave this boy here. “Listen. You rescued me from dying in a toilet alone on Christmas Eve. Now I’m going to rescue you from dying in a shopping centre alone on Christmas Day.”

He smiles. “You are my Christmas miracle, Noël,” he says.

And so we sit on the fountain talking about everything and nothing as we wait for our rescue crew. And I keep thinking that although I was locked in a toilet panicking for a good portion of my Christmas Eve, although I missed Christmas dinner, although I haven’t ever had to eat vending machine food for a Christmas feast before, this might just have been the most magical Christmas I will ever have. Maybe I’m not so unlucky, after all.

Thanks for reading my story! I hope you loved it and that it filled you with some Christmas cheer <3. Let me know what you thought down in the comments below or via any of my socials. If you would like to contact me for business, feedback or to chat, my email (mywordsarearrows@gmail.com) is always open :)

Merry Christmas everyone, and I will see you back here soon with my Christmas Eve post!

Lily xo

Bookmas Day 9 — An Overview of 2015's Reading Challenge

♫On the ninth day of Bookmas, the book blogger gave to me, a year overview, a review for the reading, a bit of Hide & Seek, some festive reads, a post about films, reading recipes, comic book thoughts, a list of writing tips and a book rec for a mystery♫

Welcome to Bookmas day 9! Today we're going to spend some time looking over 2015's reading challenge that I took up at the start of the year. This year, I took up two different challenges (which you can read about here). One was an amount of books, and one was a list of criteria for 43 different types of books.

I think setting goals in your reading is really important and valuable to maintain variety and quantity

in your reading! I have set a reading challenge on goodreads for the last few years, and I find that goodreads is a really good way of maintaining what you're reading and keeping track of different books you've read and want to read. If you don't have a goodreads account, I would recommend making one to kick off next year and begin your more organised reading!

This year, I set a 90 book goal. Last year, I had 100 as my goal, but I only read 90, so I figured that this year I would aim for 90 and beat it if I could. Well, shamefully enough, I didn't hit my goal again. And I failed pretty badly this year, with only reading 71 books as of now. I'll probably finish another few before the end of the year, but definitely not 19. I think this year I fell so badly behind because I was super busy with my own book, and also because I've been in several really bad reading slumps this year. But no matter! I am sharing with you these failures because it is important to acknowledge that we can't always be perfect readers. We are only human! Humans with active lives and responsibilities!

I also didn't quite complete my criteria reading challenge, though I tried very hard. There were only Lord of the Flies, which unfortunately is not over 100 years old. Oops. The next one, "a book that came out the year you were born" was really hard. None of the books I wanted to read were published the year I was born. Apparently my birth year was a really slow year for good books.

four categories I didn't manage to find a book for. The first category, "a book more than 100 years old", was hard because I didn't actually get around to reading many super old classics this year. The oldest book I read, I think, was

Next, "a book written by an author with your initials". THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I found it so hard to locate any authors with the initials LS. I even was a bit lenient and would accept LK (my middle name), but alas. I was unsuccessful, which was a bit sad. Lastly, "a play". I didn't actually get around to finding a play to read, partially because I find it pretty hard to read plays just as a casual thing. Although, I was planning to properly read The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde, because hello, Oscar Wilde, and that play is hilarious, but I never got around to it.

I'm pretty happy with this success rate in my criteria challenge. It could have been better, this is true, but only missing four is okay with me.

Next year, I plan to have a goal of 90 again. I'm going to try really hard to hit it next year! Additionally, I'm going to search around for a new criteria challenge to do. When I find one, I'll post about it and you can decide whether you'd like to adopt it with me!

If you'd like to discuss challenges and book managing systems, let me know in the comments below or via any of my socials. You can email me (mywordsarearrows@gmail.com) for business, feedback, book recs or just to say hi!

I hope you have found today's post useful, and I'll see you tomorrow for Bookmas day 10 :)

Lily xo